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Powells lived up to its reputation (three of us bought special books there), and Oregon itself was beyond my wildest imagination! I am so sad that our trip is over! I keep looking at our plans and photos in Google Drive...I can't come back down to TN earth! lol
(Just in case anyone searches for info on Oregon road trips...We spent 2 days in the Portland/Columbia Gorge area, 1 day at Mt. Hood, 3 days in the Bend area, 1 day at Crater Lake, and 3 days going up and down the coast with Yachats as our home base. Exhausting, yes...but well worth it.
Crater Lake was my husband's and sons' favorite stop (I was surprised at how few people were there compared to everything else!), the Painted Hills area was my favorite (again...not crowded at all), and the Newport Dock sea lions were my daughter's fave (very crowded!). The only thing I would delete from our trip was driving north to Cannon Beach and Astoria on our last day. The traffic was horrendous, and we could not even get a parking place at any of our planned stops. Instead, we should have stayed in the Yachats area longer. The coast was so beautiful there! 🙂)

This is so true! I'm from Memphis...❤️
We are arriving in Portland on the 8th and will fly out on the 17th. Thank you OP for starting this thread. We will actually only spend about 2 days in Portland because we are road-tripping as much of Oregon as we can...we have jam-packed our schedule. SO EXCITED!!!!
(The way I talked my dh into this trip is by whispering "Powell's" to him at random times over the course of time...lol!)

I agree wholeheartedly! My older son took AP Stats through PAH and my younger son took DE Statistics at our local community college. Both sons gleaned everyday-useful information (and dare I say...wisdom and discernment) from the course. The material from the AP and the DE courses was very similar.
My older son is a math/stats major, so his AP credit was useless for college, but my younger son's DE class counts as his gen ed math requirement (non-stem) at his university. He was SO pleased! lol

Hi! 🙂
That proposed Grade 12 line-up is making me hyperventilate. Yes...too much. We found that the senior year tends to have a lot of "extras" that we never considered (on top of the expected college apps/essays/visits/testing/jobs/girlfriends/friends/extracurriculars/hobbies), so I was very glad that both of my sons had a slightly lighter schedule the senior year (not wimpy...but still lighter).
Does the school offer some computer science/programming courses? If there is anyway to continue his study of Spanish and computer science, he needs to find a way to do so.
And like everyone else has said, he definitely doesn't need AP Physics 1 and AP Physics C. I'd skip the AP Physics 1...it has limited use in the scheme of things.
Can you talk the school into 3 years? What does your son think? Does he want to finish high school in 2 years?
(((HUGS))) for the boarding school-thing several hours away, too. That's gotta be a tough call.
Jetta

Does her university have a Career Center or the like?
My son's school has a "Career" Center that helps students transition to their next step...whatever that is. They help with resumes, internships, research opportunities, grad school applications, and of course, job searches. They are constantly sending out notices with "We Will Help!" 😁
My son is in a similar position, albeit not as quick. He could have graduated this spring if the course offerings had worked out, but unlike most stories you hear, he was VERY relieved when they didn't! lol! He was scared to death when the reality of possibly graduating in 3 years hit him. He is already on track to get two degrees...a BS in math and a BA in earth science, so I feel like he has spread his wings enough. Your daughter may be close to a strong minor without even realizing it. That would be nice to add to her resume!
So ds has to go one more semester (next fall) to finish his undergrad. He is doing an undergrad "honors thesis", too, in the fall to help build his resume (and to bring him to full-time student hours), and he is currently talking to a professor about a research opportunity this summer. That would be an awesome boost if it works out!
We have advised him to "keep doing what you are doing" since he is so unsure what direction he should go in. So I expect that he will remain at his current university and get his masters while being more proactive in planing what to do after that.

I am so glad to read this! I read your other post but did not have time to respond, so I'm very excited for you!
We have an 8 month old mini Aussie/American shepherd (black tri). His name is Oliver Perth, and yes, there are many times throughout the day when I say his full name! 😄 My daughter calls him Ollie, but I don't think that cutesy name quite fits his personality. It's more like Your Highness King Oliver...Lord of House and Property. Very different from the Labradors we have always had until now!
Believe me, he acts MUCH bigger than his size. lol! His athleticism is soooo impressive...he makes my jaw drop with his high jumps and twists and speed bursts. Just a slight warning...he is a bit of a velcro-dog to me, but I love my pint-size firecracker. 😘

Hi! I used it for poetry units within my sons' literature credits for a couple of years of high school (9th-10th). I thought it was excellent!
To explain a little better...I divided each year of literature into quarters, and during each quarter my sons read 2 novels, some short stories, articles, etc. Also during each quarter they spent a full week concentrating on poetry (so...4 weeks a year). During that week they would work through one chapter of Art of Poetry. Using the text this way did not allow us to do the whole book. Both of them completed Chapters 1-8, and my older son also did a few chapters in the History section during his senior year.
I especially appreciated how the author concentrated on one aspect of poetry in each chapter, and she picked the most wonderful selections to go with the focus. Some of the poems are well known, but others are less familiar but so worthwhile. I can still remember the poem about the bird knocking snow down on the poet and changing his mood for the day, and it has been many years since we did Art of Poetry! The questions and activities section is fantastic, too. Overall, I highly recommend this text. In fact, I have saved the book to use with my daughter when she is a bit older...and I haven't saved much from my sons' homeschooling years, so that should tell you something. 😉
Having said that, my boys would have wilted and withered if we had tried to do the whole book in one year. It fits in very well with an overall literature credit. But your student may be different from mine! If you have a student who loves poetry and words and creative expression, he or she might enjoy a full credit of poetry.
Also, I only purchased the Teacher's Edition, and we shared it. For the edition that I used, the TE had the full student text in it, and then inserted sections of pages with suggested answers to the questions. If the DVDs are taught by a master teacher who exudes a love of poetry, then they may be worth it, but I found the TE was sufficient for our needs. Again, we only focused on poetry 4 weeks out of each year of literature.
Hope that helps!

Civil Rights Museum/Lorraine Hotel
And before or after, eat at Central BBQ or Gus's Fried Chicken (spicy and fantastic) or The Arcade (fried ham sandwich, banana pudding!!). All three of those are fun and good. Downtown Memphis is really neat!
The zoo is awesome.
Memphis is known for BBQ (typically "dry rub"), so you should definitely try some while you are here. The Rendezvous is historically famous and a LOT of fun but isn't quite as tasty as it used to be...if you do go, get a sausage/cheese plate. We LOVE Central BBQ; my sons crave their nachos. There is also Elwood's Shack and Corky's. And lots of other good ones, too! There's a newish BBQ called "One and Only" and we recently went for my middle son's birthday. They have the most amazing sides (deviled eggs!) and huge portions. We brought a lot of food home! 🙂
And I agree, Memphis Pizza Cafe is great as is Huey's for hamburgers.

Union University is a fantastic school in a wonderful location (easy day trips to both Nashville and Memphis!). It was my older son's top choice for a looonnnnggg time, but in the final turn of events, the money offered by our local public university was just too enticing, so he is not at Union. My niece is, however, and she is majoring in education. She absolutely loves it--the campus, the students, her professors, the town, and the multiple opportunities for mission work.
My son competed in the Scholars of Excellence at Union. It was a fantastic weekend and made him want to go there even more. But from what I understand, the program has changed quite a bit since he did it, so I'm not sure if my $$$$ information will help you any. He had already received the trustees scholarship prior to SoE plus several other scholarships that stacked with it. After the SoE weekend, Union offered him a rather small additional amount. We immediately turned it down and said he would go elsewhere. Then Union came back with a much larger offer! It was SO odd and uncomfortable to us. We had no idea that you could negotiate scholarship amounts! I'm pretty sure I posted about it here at the time because it was so strange to me. lol! Anyway, we definitely got within a "doable" territory of $ when all was said and done, but again, the draw of completely free school (plus some) at the local public was too much to turn down. I will never know if it was the right decision, but my son has had a great experience where he is. 🙂
Samford is also awesome! Your daughter has a great list!!

Thank you so much for these ideas! We live in the mid-south with wet winters but not excessively cold temps. Going shopping this week! I think I can probably find both the Altra and Ariat locally so that I can test them out.
(And @Selkie, have you had personal experience with Aussies? If so, I may beg to pm you at times. We have only ever had big, bumbly, "whatever you say, ma'am" labs, so this little spitfire is a totally different personality. We knew that going into it, but he has been a bit of a challenge. He walked into the house the first day saying "I own this place!" ?)

I am looking for a pair of comfortable, water-resistant boots to wear walking around our property (large lawn, woods, meadow). We recently acquired a mini Australian shepherd, and I am enjoying helping him get lots of exercise. Which he needs. Lots. ?
I have a pair of the traditional LL Bean short boots, but while they are great for some things, they aren't that comfortable for extensive walking because they have very little support. Maybe I should just get some inserts for those boots...
Any suggestions?

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